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Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her. Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically. Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community. Susan Gregg Gilmore was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1961. Her mother is a painter, and her father was the son of a revival-bred preacher, a rich storyteller, and an insurance executive whose work moved his family across the country. But every summer, he brought his four children back to their native Tennessee to fish, swim, catch lighting bugs and grow the perfect tomato. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Susan worked as a secretary for the Smithsonian Insititution. And after graduating with a Master's degree from the University of Texas, she birthed three babies, whipped up cookies for bake sales, chaired community fundraisers, taught Sunday School, and somewhere along the way free-lanced for newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor. Then one afternoon, she decided to write a screenplay. And when she sat down at her desk, she began writing a novel.

Susan now lives once again in Nashville, Tennessee, on the same street she lived on as a young girl. And although she has tired of sweet tea, she continues to write about her beloved South.

“A young woman in Appalachia battles poverty, discrimination and her own insecurity in this moving and memorable novel…A revelatory novel that offers an evocative account of the lives of Appalachian working women.” —Kirkus

“A tender, graceful novel that addresses questions of class and social isolation… Gilmore imbues her story with a deep compassion for the lives of the working poor while offering a vivid picture of factory life and the sense of community it inspired among its workers.” —Booklist

Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her. Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically. Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community.

Susan Gregg Gilmore is the author of the novels Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove. She has written for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor. Born in Nashville, she lives in Tennessee with her husband and three daughters.

Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her. Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically. Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community.

Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content About the Author

In The funeral dress, the new novel from Susan Gregg Gilmore, a friendship between an unwed mother and a seamstress begins a series of events that exposes the strengths and weaknesses of a small mountain community. Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café) calls The funeral dress “a rare and wonderful glimpse into lives and friendships among blue collar working women in America.” The author of the novels Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove, Gregg Gilmore has written for many publications as a journalist including The Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor.

Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her. Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically. Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community.

Susan Gregg Gilmore is the author of the novels Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove. She has written for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor. Born in Nashville, she lives in Tennessee with her husband and three daughters.

The Book Worm Bookstore is so excited to welcome Susan Gregg Gilmore as she signs her hit debut novel, "Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen", as well as her newest release, "The Improper Life of Bezillia Grove"; two incredible novels that will leave you begging for more! In "Looking for Salvation...", sometimes you have to return to the place where you began, to arrive at the place where you belong. It’s the early 1970s. The ...town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold’s third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life. Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to the big city of Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, Catherine Grace immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she’s always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings her back home. As a series of extraordinary events alters her perspective–and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself–Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began. And in "The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove," Bezellia Grove, who is one of a long line of 'Bezellia Groves' in one of Nashville’s oldest families, dreams of someday living up to the name that looms so large in her heritage. But her family is not as stable as everyone thinks. Her mother is strict and proper, when not drinking, and her father is never home, preferring to work long hours. Bezellia and her younger sister are raised by the household servants, Nathaniel and Maizelle, who are more like parents to them than their real ones. When Nathaniel’s smart, good-looking son Samuel appears, Bezellia is completely smitten. But the South in the 1960s is not a welcoming place for Samuel, especially when he falls in love with a white woman. Bezellia must decide whether it’s her heart or her heritage that is most important. Don't miss this fabulous author as she stops in to bring a little salvation to all of our improper soulds! See you there! *You can find out more about Susan and her titles by visiting her website: www.susangregggilmore.com* (DoorMouse27)… (more)